Announcing a New Associate – Joseph Freeman

LINCOLN, RI – Joseph Freeman has recently joined BETA Group, Inc. as an Associate, and will be heading the firm’s Environmental Documentation and Permitting practice. Mr. Freeman has over 30 years of experience with environmental documentation for a wide range of industrial, commercial and public agency development projects. In particular, while acting as Project Manager and Regulatory Specialist for projects related to MassDOT, Mr. Freeman prepared a wide range of NEPA and MEPA documentation including NEPA Class of Action Determination correspondence, Environmental Assessments (EAs), and Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSIs). MEPA documents prepared have included Environmental Notification Forms (ENFs), Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports (DEIRs and FEIRs), Notices of Project Change (NPCs) and Section 61 Findings. Mr. Freeman is thoroughly conversant with current NEPA and MEPA requirements and practices, and is a former analyst with the MEPA Unit, where he was principally responsible for the review of more than 250 projects.

Mr. Freeman has successfully obtained local, state and federal environmental permits for public and private land development and infrastructure projects, including wetlands permits under local wetlands ordinances and by-laws, the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, and Army Corps of Engineers permits under the Clean Water Act. He has also obtained Water Quality Certifications, Chapter 91 Waterways Licenses, US Coast Guard Bridge permits, Coastal Zone Management consistency concurrences, and NPDES stormwater discharge permits under state and EPA jurisdiction. He has also obtained approvals from federal and state agencies for work affecting rare and endangered species in upland and aquatic environments.  His project experience ranges from small land development projects to major public infrastructure projects including Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel project.

For MassDOT, Mr. Freeman recently managed two successive task order contracts under the Impaired Waters program for the design and permitting of new stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) installations to treat highway runoff discharging to impaired waters throughout Massachusetts and to assist MassDOT in achieving compliance under their NPDES MS4 permit.

Mr. Freeman holds a BA from Goddard College as well as an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University. He is a member of several professional affiliations, including the American Council of Engineering Companies/Massachusetts for which he is the Co-Chair of the Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee, as well as a 20-year member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in his hometown of Hingham, MA.

Mr. Freeman will be based in BETA Group’s Norwood office. He will review BETA projects for appropriate environmental regulatory compliance requirements.

BETA Group, Inc.
Founded in 1982, BETA Group, Inc. provides state agencies, municipalities and private clients with planning, engineering, landscape architecture, design, asset management and construction services. BETA has been ranked by Engineering News-Record in the Top 500 Design firms in 2015, and has received awards from the American Public Works Association, American Council of Engineering Companies and other prestigious groups for both service and project design. BETA has over 140 employees in offices in Lincoln, Rhode Island; Norwood, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Chicopee, Massachusetts. Visit www.BETA-Inc.com, Twitter (@BETAGroupInc) or LinkedIn (BETA Group, Inc.) for more information.